First Details on Dreamcast Samba De Amigo

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Find out all about the price, modes of play . . . and what's the deal with those maracas?

By IGN Staff

First details on the Dreamcast version of Sonic Team's Samba De Amigo have surfaced out of Japan. Will the game maintain its trademark wackiness? Will Sega provide DC owners with Maracas controllers? Read on to find out.

First up, Maracas controllers will be made available at the game's release, although they'll be sold as a set separately from the game. For 7800YEN, you'll get the two Maracas units and a base unit which is used to determine movement. It's pricey, but if you want to play the game in true arcade form, you'll need to cough up the extra cash, on top of the price for the game itself.

You'll be able to play through the game regardless of whether or not you have the special controllers, taking part in four modes of play: arcade mode, original mode, challenge mode, and party mode. Arcade Mode needs no explanation - it's an exact replica of the arcade game, and nothing more. Challenge mode is also pretty basic; you simply play through five different difficulty levels of the game, vying for a brand new song.

The original mode is more interesting, though. In addition to featuring three new DC-original songs, we've learned that you'll be able to download new music from the game's home page. This makes us wonder - how exactly will the music be saved? Will Samba-De-Amigo be one of the first games to make full use of the MP3-capable Visual Memory Unit Sega is supposedly cooking up? We'll have to wait to find out for sure.

Party Mode is arguably the most interesting of the bunch in that it allows you and a friend to play at the same time. This mode is, itself, divided into three separate modes. In battle mode, you compete against your opponent, complete with life bars; perform well with your maracas, and you'll drop a bomb on your opponent. There's also the cooperative Love-Love Mode (hee-hee-hee). In this mode, the game keeps track of a love gauge between you and your opponent. Depending on how closely you shake the maracas, the gauge will go up, and you'll receive advice of some sort at the end.

The final area of Party Mode is a set of five mini games. Mole Panic seems to allow you to use the Maracas for whack-a-mole. Pose & Pose asks that you keep a consistent pose for the longest time, while Monkey Replay asks that you memorize a rhythm and repeat it with your Maracas. Also included are two mysterious games called Power Rush and Speed Judgement

With all these added modes of play on top of the Maracas controllers and what should be arcade-perfect graphics, the Dreamcast version of Samba De Amigo should be everything the arcade was, and more. Sega should be unveiling more details on the game in the coming days, but be sure and check out the below video of Colin having a go at it in Japan (this is the same video that we posted when Sega revealed that the game was coming to DC).